Turning Torso

Humus

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I don't know if anyone outside of Sweden has heard of this, but today the Turning Torso was inaugurated, Sweden's contribution to the "coolest buildings" category (located in Malmö). It may not be competing for the "highest" title, though it's fairly high at 190m and is now Europe's highest residental building, but it certainly competes well in the coolest building of the world. The design is quite unique. It's also supposedly much better at handling strong winds compared to conventional tall buildings.

http://www.turningtorso.com/
http://turningtorso.doxcentral.com/mainframe.aspx

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WOW, that looks amazing. At NCSU there is a round building that is very hard to navigate without losing external reference. I can imagine this one wouldn't be much easier since each floor faces a different direction.
 
That building is also infamous for being probably the worst planned/executed housing project in our nations' history, going overbudget by a VAST sum of money due to part increasing the height of the structure by about ten floors I think, in part by rising materials' costs and part plain good ol' incompetence and overexaggerated enthusiasm on behalf of key people behind the project.

It IS a very impressive structure though, and I'm a sucker for tall buildings in general so I really can't be too upset about it. I hear it has generated quite a bit of interest abroad amongst wealthier people (most apartements in it are VERY expensive), always nice when we can make new people discover our country. :)

If proper planning and preparation had been made BEFORE construction started, it's very likely this thing would never have been built at all, and that would actually have been a SHAME. Now we have a new national symbol (and one NOT located in our nation's overly pompous and blown-up capital :D), one I think most everybody in sweden will feel some pride about, even those that originally bitched about the giant shadow this thing casts and things like that! :LOL:
 
Frankly, judging from the pictures I have seen of its surroundings, the immediate vicinity of the house looks very boring, at least now. Nothing of that matters, however; if I had a realistic opportunity, I would gladly take the chance to live in one of the higher situated apartments, partly for the height itself, partly for the general coolness of the building. And I would be singing in the elevator every time!
 
I believe it was a farmer's field originally where the tower was built, so that the land around it is boring isn't really surprising. On the other hand, most of the apartements are too high up to see much of the immediate surroundings anyway. :D
 
Yeah, the pictures of the view from the "cubes" aren't all that exciting.. now if this thing was in Stockholm... ;)
 
Um. I took a look at the second link. To be sure, those tilted windows are kind of neat. But the practical side of me asks: what about curtains?
 
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